Browsing: Opinions

     No disgraceful act of the Trump administration is more dangerous than its denial of due process of law, judicial decisions, and unquestionable facts in the deportation to El Salvador of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Both Trump’s justice department and the El Salvador government of Nayib Bukele are refusing to return Abrego Garcia to the US for a hearing despite admitting that he was mistakenly deported and has not broken any law.

     One need not be an expert in international trade to see that Trumps tariff taxing formula is foolish. Equations are logical expressions that model how variables relate to one another like Einstein’s e = mc2. They are a product of rational thought based on observation and their validity is confirmed by fact and evidence.

     My daughter is in her final two weeks of undergraduate studies at Florida State University, where a shooter, later identified as FSU student Phoenix Ikner, opened fire. As I write, still the day of the shooting, two people have died and six others are injured. The six likely includes Ikner, who refused to comply with police commands and was shot and hospitalized but as of this writing is not in critical condition.

      Despite much lofty rhetoric portraying the United States as a democracy (in which the people rule), this nation, in fact, has often resembled a plutocracy (in which the wealthy rule).

      From Gulf of America to mass expulsion of “illegals” (people of color) to continuing genocidal complicity in Gaza to whatever the daily news brings us…welcome to Trump America! Welcome to the small-minded, white nation so many long for, free once again from those large, inconvenient values – e.g., the Declaration of Independence – that keep disrupting the way things are supposed to be.

     At home, on the other hand, the Trump administration liquidated the voting board of the United States Institute of Peace last month, a prelude to destroying its operation in a subsequent invasion by DOGE crusaders who were accompanied by armed police to protect Musk’s minions from unarmed fellow citizens at work. With USIP’s board eradicated and its staff terminated, the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of State signed papers commandeering USIP’s assets, then ordering that its home—across Constitution Avenue from the Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall—be reassigned to the General Service Administrative for unspecified alternative purposes.

   America is widely known for having created its own dangerous cocktails. No, these cocktails have nothing to do with drinking alcohol. Specifically, this American cocktail is comprised of ignorance and a double shot of racism. However, both ignorance and racism can cause negative consequences. Those who choose to consume America’s Dangerous Cocktail can be motivated to engage in interpersonal racism, such as bullying, verbal harassment, and even physical violence.